Pool-ball triangle.



F. HORNBOSTEL.

POOL BALL T RIANGLE. APPUCATIONFILEDJULY19, 1917.

1,299,471. Patented Apr. 8,1919.

7 1 lfllmum.,,

INVENTOR aum upmaoo fil A TTORA/E) FREDERICK HORNROSTEL, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

POOL-BALL TRIANGLE.

T all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Fnnnnnron Honnnos- TEL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Pool-Ball Triangles, of which the following is a full, clear, and eX- act specification.

This invention relates to a class of devices adapted to be used in conjunction with pocket billiard tables.

My invention has for its object primarily to provide a device, or triangle designed to be employed for permitting the balls preceding the playing of a game of pool to be arranged on a pocket table in the usual pyramidal manner without subjecting the cloth covering to the frictional wear as is incident to the forms of triangles of this class in ordinary use. The invention consists essentially of a triangular frame for encompassing a group of pool balls, and at the apices of the frame are provided freely rotatable balls which are socketed so that a number protrude beyond the underside of the frame, while a like number protrude above the frame whereby the frame when guided over a surface will be prevented from contacting therewith.

Another object of the invention is to provide supporting blocks in which the balls are mounted as well as serving to reinforce the corners of the frame; and a further object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficient triangle adapted to be made so as to combine unusual strength and durability.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and will then be pointed out in the claim at the end of the description.

7 In the drawing, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of pool table triangle embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view taken on the lineII-II of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view. partly in detail and partly in section. taken through one of the corners of the device.

The device has a frame composed of three corresponding flat strips 11, 12, 13 which may be made of wood, metal, or other suitable material, and these strips may be of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

Application filed July 19, 1917. Serial No. 181,551.

widths approximately the heights of the standard size of balls used'for playing the game of pocket table pool. All ofthe strips are disposed edgewise as well as their ends being joined together to form atriangle of a size to freely accommodate therein the fifteen balls so as to be grouped in the usual pyramidal fashion prior to beginning the playing of the game.

As the covering of pocket tables of this class usually consists of expensive cloth woven with somewhat a delicate nap the material is susceptible of early damage by wear from the frictional contact of triangles of ordinary types, and to overcome this objection I provide one, or two series of freely revoluble balls 14:, 15, 16 and 146*, 15 16 each series serving as a roller mechanism on which the frame is guided over the surface of the table. The balls of each series are preferably of similar sizes, arranged in a socket, as 17 All of the sockets are similarly formed, each having a sustantially cup-shaped plate, as 18, in the concavity of which is seated its respective ball so as to be freely revoluble.

The cup-shaped plates 18 of the sockets of the series of the balls 14. 15, 16 are countersunken in the underside of supporting locks 19 so that portions of the balls protrude slightly beyond the lower edge of the frame 10. while the cup-shaped plates of the sockets of the series of the balls 14*, 15 16* are countersunken in the top of the blocks so that parts of these balls protrude beyond the upper edge of the triangular frame. In order to prevent accidental displacement of the balls from the sockets on each of the blocks 19 over each ofthe cup-shaped plates 18 may be an annular plate, or ring 20 which encircles the protruding part of the ball in the cavity of the plate thereunder, and the apertures of the rings are of diameters to revolubly retain the balls in their sockets. All. of'the bl cks 19 are of triangular shapes as well as being fitted interiorly of the frame crosswise of each of its corners so as to reinforce these parts of the frame, and the exposed edge of each block is concaved, as

shown to conform with the circumference of a pool hall.

In practice the device is employed in a manner similar to the use of triangles of ordinary types. bv being arranged at the start of a game of pool on the table so that the balls of one of the series will revolve in and each ball is contact with the table. When the frame 10 is then guided in the usual manner for grouping the balls in the required pyramidal fashion the edge of the frame will be spaced sufliciently form the covering of the table to overcome all danger of being damaged by frictional wear. Moreover, by providing a series of the balls on the top as well as on the underside of the frame the device may be used with either of its edges being disposed toward the table.

In the foregoing description, I have em bodied the preferred form of my invention, but I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto as I am aware that modifications may be made therein without departing from the principle, or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention, therefore, I reserve to myself the right to make such changes as fairly fall within the scope thereof.

Having thus described my invention, I

Couies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner Washington, D. 0.

socket so as to protrude below and above the frame for preventing the frame when guided over a surface from contacting therewith, and means on the underside and on the top of each block at each of the sockets whereby the balls are revolubly held in the sockets against accidental displacement.

This specification swned and witnessed this 18th day of July, D. 1917.

FREDERICK HORNBOSTEL.

Witnesses: 7

' GEORGE F. BENTLEY,

V. M. RUMPH.

a triangular 25 of Patents, 

